Bolivia leader may call snap poll

[Thanks to ghettodefender for the link]

Opponents of Morales say he is trying to impose authoritarian rule on the South American nation [EPA] Bolivia's president has vowed to call snap elections if he loses a proposed referendum, putting his office and that of nine governors on the line in a bid to settle a constitutional reform crisis. "If they revoke my mandate, we will call for snap general elections at once," Evo Morales said in an interview with Telesur television on Thursday. In another interview, he elaborated on the referendum plans he announced on Wednesday. Morales said that under his proposal he could only be recalled if the negative vote exceeds the number of ballots cast for him when he won office in December 2005 with 54 per cent of the vote. The same rules would apply to all nine of Bolivia's governors, six of whom are his political foes. In the Telesur interview, Morales said he was about to send to congress draft legislation on the plebiscite to the country's governors, six of whom last month called their provinces on strike in protest against his proposed constitutional reforms. Social changes Morales, a leftist like his close ally Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, seeks social changes, including greater federal control of the country's revenues to redistribute wealth from the rich lowland provinces to their poorer highland neighbours. He has exerted greater state control over Bolivia's natural gas industry and other economic sectors, and officials have indicated a desire to nationalise the electricity and telecommunications industries. The six governors opposed to Morales are from Bolivia's wealthiest regions and balk at the idea of having the federal government reach into their pockets. Four of them recently visited the Organisation of American States in Washington to criticise the actions of Morales. New constitution A constituent assembly, packed with Morales supporters, recently approved the framework of a new constitution - which would also broaden Morales' powers - that the opposition calls illegal since it was voted by simple and not by two-thirds majority. The standoff between supporters and opponents of Morales has often been marked by violence. Earlier this month, three anti-government protesters were killed in the city of Sucre. Unwelcome flight In the latest sign of unrest, an angry mob of Bolivian civilians threw rocks at a Venezuelan military aircraft refuelling at an airport in the country's northeast, forcing the unwelcome aircraft to fly out of town, reports said on Thursday. The leader of a local civic group opposed to Morales said no Venezuelan military aircraft would be allowed to land in Riberalta, especially if they are carrying weapons. A Bolivian aviation source confirmed that the aircraft was a Hercules airplane belonging to the Venezuelan air force.